The present invention is directed to the art field relating to portable misting fans. Typically, such devices are provided with a fan that is in communication with a fluid sprayer to provide a source of atomized fluid. The device typically employs a trigger which operates a manual pump, the manual pump pumping fluid from the fluid reservoir up to a nozzle which is located adjacent to the fan such that the pumping of fluid up to the nozzle and ejecting fluid from the nozzle into the air stream created by the fan will cause the water droplets to break up, and as the fluid droplets enter into the air stream, create a cooling effect for the user.
Such devices have found a widespread use in connection with the public. It has been observed that these devices are basically employed as a personal air conditioning device and have particular application in any environment that is hot and/or hot and dry. These devices are typically employed by sunbathers, sports enthusiasts, and in work environments wherein a worker finds himself in a very closed in, hot and/or dry situation. Hence, such devices have developed widespread use in connection with a number of activities.
Hence, water misting fans generally are devices providing personal and environmental cooling by spraying atomized water droplets into an air stream. The droplets evaporate thereby drawing heat out of the surrounding area. Unevaporated droplets impinge on the user and further evaporation draws heat out of clothing and the skin of the user or surrounding surfaces. As is well known in the past, such devices when employed on static structures have been referred to as swamp coolers which basically operate by passing air through a wick wetted with water and, by the use of fans, propel the chilled air into the area to be cooled. The drawback of swamp coolers is that they work poorly in confined or humid environments and are more suited to a hot but low humidity environment. Furthermore, a swamp cooler generally increases humidity, which can decrease the user's comfort.
It has now been observed that the utility of the device can be greatly improved by decreasing the size of the water droplets and/or increasing the air flow so that the greater cooling effect is realized. The difficulty with the existing devices is that a manually actuated piston pump such as the type having a trigger manually actuated by the user requires a significant effort by the user in order to generate the high pressures needed for atomization of the water. This is a drawback in connection with a user who must employ both hands in connection with whatever activity the user is involved in at the time. Furthermore, elderly people with conditions such as arthritis and the like, find it virtually impossible to manipulate the trigger in order to cause atomization of the fluid. The same is true with small children who have small hands and are not able to actuate the trigger with sufficient force in order to cause a piston pump to operate effectively to draw fluid from the reservoir and eject it from the nozzle into the air stream created by the fan.
Further problems have been noted in connection with the existing devices. These include having parts vulnerable to breakage such as the triggers, attachment collars, and the couplings between the various parts of the device. For example, typically, a water misting fan includes a spray head portion having the fan mounted thereon, and the fan head portion is attached to a fluid reservoir. Such attachment can be by a screw thread, other means, but does require the uncoupling of the device for purposes of filling the reservoir, changing the batteries, or removing the fan for separate use where such fan portions are detachable. Such vulnerable parts lead to breakage problems, which detracts from the desirability of purchasing and using such a device. Even more importantly, the fact that the pump must be operated by a manual trigger for actuating a pump often results in the fact that the user cannot pull the trigger far enough or fast enough to create the pressure necessary to bring a stream of fluid into the air stream created by the fan. This detracts from the device's ability to properly mist.
In terms of the prior art, there are many prior art devices that relate to this art field. Some of the older prior art patents include the patent to Hayes U.S. Pat. No. 2,079,117 where water is discharged out of the surface of the fan blades from which it is ejected in order to create a vapor. Water is pumped out of the reservoir with the fan blades acting as a centrifugal pump. Any excess water that is flung off the tips of the blades are collected by the shroud around the fan blades and recirculated to the reservoir. A rotary union connects the feeder tubes on each blade to a water supply and a squeeze bulb primes the pump system. Hence, the device shown in the aforesaid Hayes patent is not really a misting fan and it does not teach a misting function.
The advent of the current portable misting fans is described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,839,106 which shows a portable misting fan which is in a self contained unit and has an elongated configuration in order to accommodate the provision therein of a fluid reservoir. The device has an extended neck portion with a fan positioned at the top end along with an atomizing head. As described therein, fluid is pumped from the fluid reservoir upwardly to the atomizing end that is located below the fan and as fluid is extracted from the atomizing head, the fan, which is located behind a baffle, blows the fluid onto the body of the operator.
An improvement over the aforesaid device is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 5,338,495. In this patent, there is disclosed what the inventor describes as an integral portable fan and atomizing head unit forming a cooling unit adapted for direct attachment to a fluid reservoir which is a bottle. The upper chamber is provided with an electric motor and electrical means to activate and de-activate the motor, the fan means including flexible fan blades mounted externally on the upper chamber connected to the motor to turn in response from the activation of the motor. The lower chamber is provided with pump activation means in the form of a trigger that requires manipulation by the user in order to pump water from the reservoir up into the path of the air stream created by the fan. The upper head unit is intended to disengagably engage to the fluid reservoir that may consist of a bottle and the connection being a threaded cap which seats onto a threaded neck. As was indicated previously, such devices require the physical manipulation from the user in order to pull the trigger in order to activate the pump and to pump fluid from the reservoir into the air stream created by the fan.
The present invention is intended to provide an improvement over such devices by providing a portable misting fan having a powered misting device incorporated into the unit. A powered misting device thereby eliminates the requirement that the user manually actuate or manipulate a trigger or any other type of device for causing the pump to operate in order to bring fluid from the reservoir into the air stream. Portability is maintained by providing typical batteries whether the same are dry cell or rechargeable, for powering not only the fan, but the misting device as well. It is therefore contemplated that the invention as described herein, once activated by the user, results in a hands free operation that can provide fan only cooling, or fan plus misting as a cooling effect. In either event, appropriate controls are provided so that the user may operate the appropriate controls and allow the unit to operate virtually automatically.
It will therefore be appreciated that the present invention has greater usability by the public for the device, whether it is used in a work environment, by a sports enthusiast, or by the elderly, or by children, the requirement that the user employ hand manipulation to operate the device is eliminated. The user therefore has the use of both hands to engage in the activity with which he is involved, and the device will continue to operate as a portable misting/cooling device.